Tatum and Henry

“Fine. I’ll bring her. Tell Major Boyes that she is in my custody, and we’ll be there within two hours,” I state. Graeme and the other delta nod and salute me, before giving Tatum a dirty look and leaving.

“This is bullshit you know,” Tatum says after closing the door. My mouth drops at her swearing and I’m about to praise her when I see the expression on her face.

“I know, come, finish your French toast and then take a shower,” I say, pulling her into a hug and kissing her forehead.

- Commander Eamon? – I link, hoping he’ll link back with me. I participated in a joining ceremony when I transferred into the pack and am grateful right now for doing it.

- Henrik! What’s up? – he asks.

- Can you send someone over with a woman’s military dress uniform to my place? I also need a babysitter – I say.

- Sure, what happened? –

- Tatum has been arrested for desertion and dereliction of duty during the war –

- Geeze. That’s not Tatum, I’ll send my cousin over – he says before disconnecting the link.

I walk back into the dining room and see Tatum trying to act happy in front of Rhiannon.

“It’s going to be alright,” I say, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. She gives me a weak smile and looks back at our daughter.

“Yup mummy, it gonna be awight, now that we has daddy, right daddy?” Rhiannon says, smiling happily at me.

“That’s right little wolf,” I smile back.

We finish our food and I gather the dishes and take them to the dishwasher. I hear ‘My Little Pony,’ playing in the background and I know that Tate is sitting there watching it with her. I hear a faint knock on the front door and walk over to it, opening the door revealing Gabby.

“Gabriella?” I greet.

“Henrik, I’m uh, Eamon’s cousin,” she says shyly, not meeting my eyes, “is Tatum here?” she then asks.

“Yes, she’s in the living room,” I reply, stepping aside and letting her in. I close the door behind her and watch as Gabby walks down the hallway, turning right at the end into the living room. I hear Tatum’s smile in her voice when she sees Gabriella.

Walking into the living room I see Tatum talking to Gabby and Rhiannon smiling at them.

“Henry! I’ve been training Gabby since I joined the pack,” Tatum smiles.

“Gabby is going to watch Rhiannon for us while we sort this out,” I say. Tatum’s face drops.

“Don’t worry Tatum, I’ll be here, for as long as you need. I can feed her and everything,” Gabby smiles, trying to reassure Tatum.

Tatum looks at me and nods.

“This is the uniform your mate requested,” Gabby then says, pulling out a plastic bag.

“Thanks Gabby, we’ll get ready to go now,” I say, looking at Tatum.

//\\//\\//\\

The drive to Waning Moon’s Military Base is quiet.

“You’re Captain Sully?” I ask, breaking the silence.

“Yes,” Tatum admits.

“I read the report on the ambush your team suffered when your were scouting,” I state. I recall what I read about the incident; the entire team had the same story- Clayton was being attacked in their van, and they all left their posts to rescue him. Two of her team members, both wolves themselves, were outnumbered and about to go down when Captain Sully, Tatum, came in with her katana, or ‘sword’ as her team members had written, and had attacked the wolves, killing most of them herself.

“What?” Tatum asks, looking at my smiling face.

“Nothing,” I say. She nudges me.

“I’m just so lucky you’re mine,” I add. I quickly look at Tate and she smiles back at me.

“Don’t you forget it, this time,” she states.

We drive through the checkpoint into the base, and I find a spot to park.

“Ready?” I ask her. She looks at me and nods, fear coming from her.

“I’m here, I’ll protect you,” I say, squeezing her hand as I close the car door behind her. I must say my mate looks mighty fine in her dress uniform. For females, the military dress uniform is a forest green pencil skirt with white blouse and dark green tie underneath a forest green blazer. Because she’s a captain, she wears a forest green military peaked hat.

Can’t wait to get that off her, I think.

“Henry?” she asks, turning to look at me.

“Oh, sorry,” I say, coming out of my spell of looking at her. Tatum gives me a look and chuckles at me when she realises why I fell behind.

“You’re not looking so bad yourself,” she whispers in my ear when I catch up.

We walk through the main entrance of the base towards the receptionist.

“Hello, we’re here to see Major Boyes,” I say as I approach the desk. The receptionist looks up at me.

“General Erstad sir, to what is this regarding?” the sergeant asks.

“Captain Sullivan is under investigation for dereliction of duty, and Major Boyes is overseeing this, I believe? I want to have a word with him,” I state.

“Yes sir, please take a seat,” he says.

We nod and find ourselves a seat in front of reception.

“Baby, don’t let them know who you are yet,” I whisper in Tatum’s ear, looking round to see if anyone was listening. Steady breathes and heartbeats reveal that any wolf in earshot didn’t notice, and I sit back in my chair satisfied. Tatum nods slightly and I quickly squeeze her hand before returning it back to my lap.

I people watch as I sit. Most are busy and continue on their way, but those who notice me bow their heads respectfully before continuing on.

“Genral Henrik Erstad!” A jolly voice calls out from a hallway. When the man approaches, who I assume to be Major Boyes, I stand, Tatum following.

“Major Alex Boyes,” he says in introduction as he shakes both mine and Tatum’s hands, “please follow me,” he continues.

We follow Major Boyes back down the hallway, turning a few times before we get to a rather neat and tidy office. Major Boyes sits at his desk and Tatum and I sit opposite him.

“It is such an honour General, I saw you early in the war at the base four,” he says. I nod. I had visited most of the bases early on, before the big fight.

“How can I help you today?” he then asks.

“I would like to ask you about this…” I say, handing the Major Tatum’s warrant for her arrest. The Major takes it from me and reads it.

“This seems to be very self-explanatory, General Erstad, Captain Sullivan is under arrest for desertion and dereliction of duty,” the Major says.

“Under what evidence?” Tatum asks.

“Ah, one moment,” Major Boyes sighs. He taps on his computer a little bit, and I assume he is pulling up her file.

“Yes, here,” Major Boyes says, moving his computer screen so we can both see it, Sergeant Alexa Brown wrote in her account that she caught you running away from the fight at Clover’s Green, towards the trees, and that she tried to stop you but you cut her arrows down and ran away. And here is the evidence of the arrows,” Major Boyes states, scrolling down. There is a photograph of three arrows with clean lines cut through the shaft. I whistle.

“Did you cut them down while they were being fired at you?” I ask my beautiful mate, impressed.

“Yes. She started shooting at me but kept missing. It wasn’t until her captain told her to stand down that she stopped,” Tatum says.

“Well, Captain Carlton corroborates her story,” Major Boyes then says, scrolling down to the next written account.

“Is that all the evidence you have?” I ask.

“Yes, at the moment, it’s all I need. We intend to hold Captain Sullivan until the information has been reviewed and then put her on trial,” Major Boyes states, looking at Tatum.

“But what about my account? What about my teams account? I was there right until the end. At what point was being ordered to return home by the Majors considered desertion?” Tatum asks.

“Captain Carlton’s statement, and those in his team all declare you left early in the fight. We…” Major Boyes begins, looking angry.

“What about her accounts? Have you pulled them up yet?” I ask, feeling angry.

“Well, no…” Major Boyes stutters, “I don’t need to…”

“Pull them up!” I growl, using my beta command to make him do it.

Major Boyes flips the screen towards him and starts tapping on his keyboard.

“Uh, er, they haven’t been scanned yet,” Major Boyes admits.

“Are you kidding me?” I now yell, my anger meter going from three to ten in a matter of seconds, “how can you arrest a captain without all the facts? Who gave you the authority to do so?” I continue.

“W-we have six accounts that all say the same thing,” Major Boyes stutters. I growl again, my wolf wanting to come out and end him.

“Get her team’s accounts now or I’ll rip your throat out with my bare hands!” I yell.

“Yes-yes General Erstad,” Major Boyes stutters, running out of the room. I stand there, livid.

“Henry…” Tatum says softly, her hand on my wrist. I turn and look at her, softening at the expression on her face.

“Tate…” I say. She nods, instinctively standing up and pulling me into a hug. I feel my whole self calm down, and my wolf relaxes in her hold. I bury my head into the crook of her neck and let her scent sweep over me.

My breathing begins to settle as I calm myself down and finally I let go.

- Kane – I mind-link my best friend.

- Henry, are you okay? –

- Yeah, no. Why is Major Boyes arresting Captains based on one version of accounts? –

- He’s not, is he? –

- He is. He ordered Tatum’s arrest –

- Shit. Where are you –

- Waning Moon Base – I say.

- I’ll be there tomorrow – Kane replies before ending the link.

“Uh, um, here are her team’s reports,” Major Boyes then says, passing over a file to me. I pass them back to Tatum who looks through them all.

“These look correct,” she says, looking at me. I nod.

“I want two copies and scanned immediately,” I state, watching Tatum give the Major back the file, who then takes it and runs back out.

“Thank you, Henry,” Tatum says after a short pause. I look at her and shake my head.

“I will do anything to support you. Those reports from Captain Carlton and his team are clearly fabricated. They are handwritten and almost word for word. There is no mention of where you went after, just that you ran away. Where did you go to?” I ask.

“I heard a familiar scream and saw Zoe being dragged across the field by a wolf. I killed the wolf and saved her. Then a water fay came and took her from me, then I think, I saw you…” she says.

“Okay, well, we’ll read your report and hopefully whoever was there can validate what really happened, besides me,” I state.

“I don’t know who took Zoe, though… it was a woman, but I’m not sure who…” Tatum says.

“It’ll be written somewhere,” I advise. She nods and we wait a little for Major Boyes comes back.

“It’s done,” Major Boyes then says, planting his heavy frame back down on his chair.

“Good, send me a copy of this file. Now, I imagine you planned on prosecuting Captain Sullivan. What dates were these planned for?” I ask, still unhappy.

“Uh,” Major Boyes begins, turning back to his computer, “in three weeks’ time we have her scheduled to stand trial.” I shake my head, trying hard to supress my wolf that is so close to the surface.

“Three weeks? Did you plan on holding her until then?” I try to calmly ask.

“Well, yes, she’s human, so she’s a flight risk, it is procedure, which you signed” he states. I growl. Yes, I was involved in the paperwork regarding prosecuting war crimes, but there were clauses, clauses I made sure to include because I know that families were involved in this war, not only mine.

“You are aware that Captain Sullivan has dependents?” I ask him. The look on his face shows that he doesn’t.

“Dependents that rely on her? That she left in order to defend our side in the war?” I argue.

“I don’t see why that matters…”

“It matters because you have not done your job diligently. There are written clauses in the paperwork regarding detaining those accused of war crimes that I personally wrote, which you chose to ignore, which in turn has hurt a high-blood family!”

Major Boyes goes to say something, but I raise my hand.

“Pathetic. I will ensure Captain Sullivan remains in my custody, not yours, and I will prepare a team to rebut your flimsy case. We will see you in three weeks on the date and time you have given us,” I growl, standing.